


Thunder and Sandstorms

by mintstudent



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Agrabah, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Conversations, Awkward Tension, Comfort/Angst, Desert, Dreams and Nightmares, Espionage, F/M, Fights, Game: Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, KHUX - Freeform, Larxene's POV, Near Death, Near Death Experiences, Nightmares, Not Canon Compliant - Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, One Shot, POV Female Character, POV First Person, Reconnaissance, Sharing a Room, Union Cross References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:54:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25543195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintstudent/pseuds/mintstudent
Summary: While on a recon mission in Agrabah, Larxene and Lexaeus find themselves in a tough spot when a massive sandstorm sweeps the city. They can't go back until they figure out why this is occurring. The two must put aside their differences and work together, but what will happen when they are forced to bond for a night?
Relationships: Larxene/Lexaeus (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Thunder and Sandstorms

"Sand. Sand. Sand. Oh look! More sand," I said as we walked around the dunes of Agrabah. Not a lot of scenery here, guess they spent all the money on SAND. The desert would be less boring if I had someone to talk to. Well, there _is_ someone, but talking to them is like talking to a brick wall. That wall is called Lexaeus. A big man of small words. Pft. Whatever. It’s not like we could have any good conversations anyways.

We stepped on the top of a dune and got a good view of the city. This way we could analyze the environment we were getting into. In the middle of nowhere there was a small city that almost blended with the sand. If our info is right, it’s all a slum full of people trying to survive.

“Let’s go,” Lexaeus spoke. It was the first time he said something since we left. It was also our first time getting assigned together. Out of all the people at the castle, Xemnas decided to put us both in this hot and dry land. What’s that guy thinking? There’s no way I would’ve teamed up with this guy, but I guess whatever he says goes.

As for the view, there wasn’t much to see. Aside from the sand and the city, there’s nothing else. We’re supposed to look out for anything suspicious, but at this rate it’ll take forever to find even a hint.

After a bit of walking we finally made it to our destination: Agrabah’s bazaars. These coats aren’t making it easy to get around in this heat. I kept glancing over at Lexaeus, but it didn’t look like he was bothered at all.

“Sure is hot out here,” I said, trying to get rid of the silence. As usual, he just kept walking. Great. Ignored once again. “Y’know you could at least grunt or something.” He stopped to look at me before nodding and humming. Color me surprised! All that pestering worked out in the end. Then, we walked in silence for like half an hour. Such progress.

We came across an open area in the middle of the city with a few shops, but the real kicker was the two giant doors that supposedly lead to the palace. I put my hand on one of the doors and looked up. Some really important people must live in that palace if they made them that tall. Imagine having to open and close those behemoths; that person should get a raise.

“So these are the palace doors… I don’t think anyone can budge ‘em,” I commented. Lexaeus was analyzing the surroundings, trying not to miss anything that could be important to the mission. Out of nowhere, he spoke up.

“This isn’t the place. We have to keep looking.”

“Looking for what exactly?” I asked. “Xemnas told us to find the cause of the sandstorms, but so far all we’ve found is the sand minus the storms!” I was getting frustrated, mainly because of the heat and the fact that this guy wanted to walk around some more in it.

“The cause is most likely a heartless. If we find the heartless and get rid of it, it’ll stop the storms. Right now there’s no sign of it here, so it’s best to look elsewhere.” He wasn’t wrong, but it still made my blood boil. Ugh! Stupid heartless making stupid sandstorms. When I see it, I’m going all out!

On our way back, I didn’t realize that every stall and shop was closed. They were also filled with sand, and everything looked like a ghost town. That eerie feeling you get when something’s about to go wrong settled in, and Lexaeus must’ve felt it too. By the time we were in the outskirts, a sandstorm started brewing.

“This is it! That heartless must be close! If we hurry we can kick its ass before this gets any worse. ” Without thinking twice, I started running farther and farther away from Agrabah and into the wide desert.

“Larxene, wait!” The usually quiet man shouted. I ignored him and kept running. He followed me before a strong gust of wind threw my balance off. In a matter of seconds, the winds strengthened to the point where I was barely able to walk without being thrown side to side. Eventually, I fell on my knees. Damn it! All the sand was getting in my eyes and slashing my face. I tried to cover myself by pulling the coat’s hood over, but the wind made it very hard.

Just when I thought I was gonna get blown away, the sand stopped hitting my face. I brushed off as much as I could and opened my eyes. _A black coat?_ When I looked up, Lexaeus was shielding me from the storm. He held out his hand. I grabbed it and got up, trying to stay on my feet.

“We can’t fight the heartless in these conditions, we must retreat.”

“What’re you talking about? The sooner we get rid of it the sooner we can get out of here and back to the castle!”

“We _won’t_ be able to go to the castle if we rush. We don’t know where it is exactly. It’s best to fall back and wait for the sandstorm to pass.” I had enough of this guy ordering me around. This is the last time I let him boss me. I scowled, and he tackled me. In an instant, he opened a corridor of darkness and took us somewhere… dark. A room? The wind was howling, so it had to be in Agrabah. Did he take us to the city? He hovered over me for a few seconds, regaining his breath. He then kneeled aside. As my vision adapted to the darkness, I could see boarded up windows and a mostly empty room. A battered couch, a raggedy carpet, and sandstone structure…

“Where are we?” I asked. Lexaeus turned his head to my direction.

“An abandoned house in the city. I saw it while we were scouting the area. It could’ve served us well in case we needed to fall back, and it did.” He looked away, still kneeling on the floor. I tried to breathe in and out as calmly as I could. The wind outside was somewhat muffled by the walls and boards, so we could both kinda hear our heaving.

A minute must’ve passed, and he glanced my way. Now that I could see better, I noticed his blue eyes in the darkness. They’re… pretty… pretty… pretty okay and not as beautiful as mine. Ha! What a ridiculous train of thought, thinking that man is attractive in any way. Although he has that tall, dark, and mysterious air to him, he’s definitely not my type. Nope. Not me.

And then he apologized.

“I’m sorry for tackling you and not taking into consideration your requests. While I still think they’re not the best options, it was rude of me to completely dismiss them.”

“Ugh, this again-” I stopped to think what I was going to say. Not the first time I’ve done such a thing, but a rarity. “No, you’re right. I could’ve gotten us killed. Now that the heat’s mostly gone I realized I was being a whiny yamp. Besides, you saved my skin out there. Should be me apologizing. Sorry.”

“It’s alright now. I recommend we wait for the storm to pass before we go back to searching for the heartless.”

“And how long is that?”

“It could be hours or days.”

“UGH,” I groaned as I slumped down on the carpet. It’s not the cleanest but at this point beggars can’t be choosy. Well… guess the waiting begins. The seconds turned to minutes, and the minutes turned to hours. When will it end? None of us know. From time to time I looked at the man who sat cross legged on the other side of the room. His eyes were closed, as if he was meditating or something. Neither of us moved much the whole time. It was getting too boring. We must’ve spent an entire day in this desert. Eventually the little light that seeped in the room started to fade, and was replaced by moonlight.

“So, uh… why’re you in the organization?” I asked Lexaeus out of nowhere. The tension got to me and I needed to talk about something- anything! Surprisingly, he responded.

“To be complete again. Do you not have the same goal?”

I sighed. “Wish it were that easy to explain…”

“You don’t need to.”

“It’s like this: let’s just say I came along for the ride.”

“So there’s someone you want to be with.” His words took me by surprise.

“I-it’s not like that! But… you’re right. Not like you’d understand.”

“I do.” The way he said it made me feel like I was the one saying it. Did he really understand how I feel? Does he have someone he wants to be with in this clown fest? Maybe we’re not so different after all. 

“Did you have friends when you had a heart?” I asked.

Talking about our Somebody is uncomfortable, almost taboo, and lots of peeps at the castle will drop the conversation as soon as it’s brought up. Most get offended. This was the one time I even dared to mention it with someone that wasn’t **him**.

“Friends? It depends on what you mean by that.”

“What do I mean by that? I mean did you have people you cared about, and people who cared about you? Maybe you had people you wanted to protect? People you wanted to spend time with? Ring any bells?” From what I could see I definitely got him thinking.

“I have someone I care about, someone I want to protect, someone I would like to spend time with. Is this person my friend?”

“Well I say they are! Whoever it is, sounds like you two should spend as much time together. Otherwise…”

“Otherwise?”

“...you might lose them for good. If you take them for granted, they might change, and you’ll wonder what happened to the person you once knew.”

“Larxene…”

We both sat in silence, looking at each other through the darkness in the room. So different yet so alike. I’m here out of my own choice with my own motives; Lexaeus is too. Sure, we want to have hearts, but I can’t help but think that’s the least important thing on everyone’s list. Power? Revenge? Friendship? Who knows. As I closed my eyes and laid on my side, memories that had been suppressed for a long time flooded my mind.

_“What’s your name? ******? Have you seen **********? Oh, thank you.” He asked for my name. I told him my name. He called me by my name. He asked if I had seen her. I told him I didn’t know. My Chirithy told him they saw her go with ***** somewhere. He left. I think they’re siblings. No, I want to know more. Why? No, please don’t leave. Wait!_

“Wait!” I woke up in a cold sweat. My head spun in circles as I held it in my hands. Where…?

“Larxene! Are you alright?” I heard a voice say.

“W-who? Who are you? Where am I? Where did he go?”

“I’m Lexaeus. We’re in Agrabah looking for a heartless that’s causing severe sandstorms.” 

“Agrabah… heartless… then, that was a dream.” It all came back to me little by little, but I found it hard to believe. So much has happened since then. So much has happened since that encounter with him.

“The storm is gone now. If you’re up for it we should go find the heartless now.”

“Yeah, yeah that heartless! Stupid, damned heartless! Let’s go!” I stood up too fast, as the blood rushed out of my head. When I thought I was gonna fall, Lexaeus held me by the arms. I held on to his arms and reclined on his chest, trying to get a grip and balance.

“You should be more careful. Rest a bit before we go. You can’t fight like this.” He let me stabilize while in his embrace. The warmth felt so nice, I didn’t want to leave. A bit later, I noticed what I was doing and pushed him away.

“Right, I’m better now, let’s go.” Blatant lies, but he didn’t argue and opened a corridor of darkness. On the other side I stood face to face with huge dunes of sand. We walked under the sun for a while before reaching a rather strange area. There were rocks and boulders forming a semicircle looking wall.

_It’s here._

Before the heartless popped out we drew our weapons. In a flash, it swung its arms, trying to cut us with curved blades. Lexaeus ran on one side, while I ran up one of its arms. I skipped from arm to arm as it tried swatting me. So annoying! Just when we were about to strike it would shake us off. I looked at my partner and nodded while eyeing the heartless’ left side. He understood and made a dash towards it. I threw my knives at it, and while it was still blocking, Lex cut the three left arms. The heartless used its remaining arms to try and hit us, but the shock from the knives held it off. With a battle cry, we dealt a final blow, and got rid of it for good. We landed on the hot sand, almost out of breath.

“You know, you did a good job here,” I said between heaves.

“As did you,” he replied.

“Now that this is over, I can finally go get some fresh air at the castle.”

“Larxene?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

I turned my head. “For what?”

“For teaching me what a friend is.”

“Oh, that. Don’t sweat it big guy.”

“I hope… you can be with your friend too.” His words reached deep inside my hollow body. If I had a heart I would’ve cried, but that didn’t stop a knot from forming in my throat. I wanted to speak, but I knew that I didn’t need words to convey what I wanted to say; he would’ve known anyways. Just then, I learned why he used so little words. For once, I finally understood the silence.

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic here, yay. If you liked it please consider giving a kudos. Also, if you have something you'd like me to write do let me know :^)


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